This invention relates generally to digital auditing or communicating systems for electronic vending devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to solid state systems for conveniently electronically communicating with the digital circuitry within modern parking meters and vending machines, and for interrogating and extracting information from the meters.
The variety of electronic and mechanical parking meters are well-known in the prior art. Typical parking meters receive one or more coins to begin a timing interval during which a vehicle may remain parked in an appropriate space associated with and adjacent to the parking meter. The timing interval, or the amount of time vended by the meter to the user, is typically determined by the number and value of the coins which are inserted into the parking meter. Recently, electronic parking meters have evolved for digitally electronically vending time. Although such electronic parking meters often have mechanical parts, the primary thrust of modern parking meter technology is directed to solid state circuitry and apparatus for parking meters which minimizes downtime, reduces mechanical unreliability, and provides an electronic means of accounting. As electronic parking meters evolve, and more and more computer circuitry is contemplated, the accounting possibilities presented by meters increases.
With older, strictly mechanical parking meters, the meter reader must walk to each meter and manually empty the coins and tally them to determine meter activity. With electronic parking meters, this is substantially avoided. For example, accumulated parking time and accumulated sales may be stored within electronic memory. Moreover, "busy" times of the day may be computed. Electronic programming responsible for such meters allows the user to easily vary parking rates or change them when desired.
Another advantage of modern electronic computerized parking meters is that they may be triggered externally without the use of coins. Accordingly, payment slots may be included for the use of debit cards which are incremented by the circuitry. Prepaid parking "time" represented by magnetic information on the cards may be used to vend time. As an example, attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,097, owned by the same assignee as in this case. When such a "debit" card (i.e. normally the size of a plastic credit card) is used to purchase time, it need be simply inserted into the parking slot or the coin slot. Alternatively, the parking card and coins may be inserted into separate slots. A purchaser may vary the amount of time purchased on the meter, either by using his debit card or by inserting required coins.
A further advantage of the electronic meters is that fewer coins need be collected and handled, since much of the meter time is purchased by the park card. The meter then electronically stores in its memory the meter activity thereby reducing the number of coins in the meter.
Advanced electronic meters of the type described in the '097 patent further provide an auditor. The auditor is typically used to program the parking meter and/or to extract data from the parking meter, such as the activity of the meter, etc. Also, the auditor can be used to program and gather data from the parking meter by connecting the auditor directly. In the past, direct connect auditors have required a separate slot or access port through the housing wall. Such an extra slot, in addition to the slot for a coin or a card, increases the environmental problems involved with meters in an outdoor setting. The more slots a meter has, the more likely that environmental elements such as rain, snow, sleet and dirt particles could enter the meter, thereby causing problems in the operation thereof. In general, outdoor vending devices such as meters must be capable of withstanding the elements. To lessen the likelihood of failures, the meters must be relatively well-protected from weather conditions. To this end, the fewer holes that allow foreign particles to enter the meter the better.
In addition, an auditor could be used to program and gather data from a parking meter or other vending device by interfacing the auditor to the parking meter through an infrared-red transmission system. Such an infrared-red system was used to avoid having an extra slot as to avoid the problem as discussed above, among other reasons. However, the infrared systems are not the fastest systems available for data acquisition and also require fairly accurate aiming of the auditor toward the vending device during the entire auditing process.